There was no urgency to give Bob Melvin a contract extension, not when the A's manager already was signed through 2014.

But general manager Billy Beane viewed Melvin in such high regard that he wanted to tack on a couple of more years, securing Melvin through 2016. So Beane called Melvin and got a deal done in record time.

"From our standpoint," Beane said, "when you know you have someone you think is absolutely perfect for your organization, I think you'd be foolish not to be proactive, and that was the case with Bob's contract."

The two-year extension was announced Monday.

Beane called it "probably the simplest negotiation I've ever had in my career here, a reflection of the relationship Bob has with the organization."

How long did it take?

"I think we sat down for two minutes," Melvin said.

Melvin guided the A's to an unlikely division championship in 2012, thanks to a 72-38 record after June 1, tops in the majors. With 94 wins, the A's were 20 games better than in 2011 and overcame a five-game deficit with nine to play, sweeping Texas to clinch the AL West.

Melvin was named Manager of the Year in the American League, beating Baltimore's Buck Showalter, and said he has felt comfortable with A's management, players, trainers, clubbies and fans "from the minute I got here."

Beane said, "There was never a game Bob didn't think we could win regardless of what it looked like," and managing general partner Lew Wolff added, "He makes everyone around him feel we can win every day."

The A's reached the playoffs for the first time since 2006, losing to Detroit in the first round, and it gets no easier, not after the Angels added Josh Hamilton to a lineup that includes Albert Pujols and AL Rookie of the Year Mike Trout.